Does any amount of corrective accurate information stop antisemitic people from criticizing and demeaning Jews and their culture and their religion and their nation in the Middle East?
Do you see what I mean?
The way many Jews handle their situation is simply to associate with non-Jews as little as possible.
Why don’t you do the same? Because I know that Christianity does not practice exclusionism. “They”, on the other hand, do (historically) practice exclusionist behavior at the slightest hint that someone slightly differs in a particular stance in faith…and they’re Christians. Why they happen to choose to associate with me knowing full well that I am, and will always be, Catholic, can at times be bewildering.
Why are you associating so much with people who clearly don’t like you and don’t respect you, and who hate your religion?
Believe me, no one who liked you and respected you would say all these mean things about your religion right in front of you.
No amount of corrective accurate information is going to make these hater like you, respect you, or respect your religious faith. *Then why do people evangelize? Weren’t some of the greatest Catholic Saints also some of the greatest Christian condemners? *
I know we are now in the Age of the New Apologetics, and we are always being led to believe that we must constantly be in Church Militant Combat Mode, with our combat boots on, and our Apologetics Books under our arms, always ready to engage with doubters and critics of the Faith. But that can get wearisome. We have to have out own life of peace sometimes too.
Consider these verses from the Gospels:
Luke 4:28-30: “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him [Jesus] out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”
Matt. 14:23 “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…”
Matt. 16:23: "Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Jesus didn’t always argue with everyone. Sometimes he just slipped away. Sometimes he sent other people away so he could be alone. In the case of Peter, Jesus YELLED at Peter, and basically blasted him to H*ll, in a manner of speaking.
If you have to say anything to these haters, just say this: “If you want to stay here [or if you want me to to stay here], you are going to have to keep your hatred of the Catholic Faith to yourself. I’m not listening to this ********!” I would get angry. I would “go off” on them. That will have more effect on them that a bunch of corrective accurate information that they are just going to ignore anyway. * You bring up a great point - acknowledging my displeasure with their comments as opening to what proceeds from my mouth thereafter. *
Imagine if these same people were standing around casually belittling your child right in front of you. Would you in that case try to give these people corrective accurate information, such as “Well, you see, my 8 year old son is not a useless piece of human flesh as you say, but really is quite a good little boy.” No no. In that case you’d need to blast those people to H*LL. Or leave. Or both. My basic point: You can’t reason with Haters.
